The stock market indices had a difficult day. Although they started out with a pop to the upside and made new highs for the week. They then came down steadily all day. Only a last 15-minute bounce-back into the close prevented the indices from closing at the low for the day. In fact, the Dow closed up on the session.
The day started out with a pop to the upside, had a real sharp pullback to support, bounced mid-session, and then rolled over all afternoon, before a bounce into the close.
Net on the day, the Dow was up 34.79 at 13,610.15, 51 points off the high. The S&P 500 was down .47 at 1460.93, 10 points off the high. The Nasdaq 100 was down 16.65 at 2811.94, mostly due to Apple Inc. (AAPL), down 14.21 to 652.59, on 20 million shares.
Advance-declines on the New York Stock Exchange were about 400 issues higher and about 200 issues lower on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was slightly to the plus side on New York, with total volume of just under 600 million shares. Nasdaq traded over 1.6 billion, and had a 5 to 2 negative volume ratio.
TheTechTrader.com board was mixed. In addition to Apple, Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT) was down 3.62 to 34.30 on profit taking today.
Other stocks to the downside included Ellie Mae, Inc. (ELLI), down 1.03 to 26.49. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was down 1.96 to 258.51, Google Inc. (GOOG) was off just 40 cents to 767.65, and VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) dropped 1.07 to 25.71.
Stocks on the plus side includes Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ONXX), up 3.53 to 89.40, tagging 90 intraday. Repros Therapeutics Inc. (RPRX) was up 1.07 to 16.32.
Also on our board today, Primero Mining Corp. (PPP) was up 1.97 to 7.37, or 36 1/2%, on 7.6 million shares on a positive court ruling. Xenoport, Inc. (XNPT) jumped 1.71 to 12.86, or 15%, on 1.2 million shares. Delcath Systems, Inc. (DCTH) was up 25 cents to 2.07, or 13 3/4%, on 4.1 million shares.
Junior biotech stocks were very active today. Life Partners Holdings, Inc. (LPHI) was up 36 cents to 2.59, or 16%, on 1.4 million shares. Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXA) gained 52 cents to 5.55, or 10%, on 1.8 million shares. Celsion Corp. (CLSN) rose 52 cents to 5.94, or 10%, on 1.6 million shares.
Other gainers of note included Avon Products Inc. (AVP), up 1.17 to 17.39, Silicon Motion Technology Corp. (SIMO) 94 cents to 15.68, and CalAmp Corp. (CAMP) 43 cents to 9.68.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up at the opening, reaching the highs for the day within an hour, and came down the rest of the session, testing key support near the lows and bouncing off that support to preserve gains on the Dow and leaving the S&P 500 near flat on the session. However, it was a nasty day for the Nasdaq 100, due to Apple's big loss.
Let's see how it goes next week.
Good Trading!
Harry